CELEBRITY chef Gordon Ramsay made profits of nearly £4m last year as customers flocked to his chain of exclusive restaurants.

The chef, famous for hit television show Hell's Kitchen, turned the business around from the previous year's losses of £1m and paid himself just under £300,000.

Claridges was the most profitable of Mr Ramsay's seven outlets, racking up profits of £1.4m on sales of £6.7m, followed by the Savoy Grill.

Turnover across the group rose by nearly half to £31m in the year to August 31.

Mr Ramsay, who owns 69% of Gordon Ramsay Holdings, employs nearly 670 staff across the business, up from 523 the previous year.

The former footballer gave up his career with Glasgow Rangers in 1981 to start a course in hotel management, before starting as a chef at Maxim's de Paris in London. He opened his first restaurant, Gordon Ramsay, in Chelsea in 1996.

* MARCO Pierre White led a group of celebrity chefs in forming a new venture to supply their branded products to supermarkets.

Mr White - the first British cook to gain three Michelin stars - will develop an array of ready-made meals offering haute cuisine at affordable prices. Ramsay